Alcaraz, Sabalenka headline action in Wimbledon quarter-finals

New Straits Times

a day ago

LONDON: Defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz and women's number one Aryna Sabalenka headline the first day of quarter-finals at the All England Club on Tuesday.
AFP Sport looks at the match-ups ahead of the last-eight ties.
Carlos Alcaraz has not had it all his own way at Wimbledon but he has stepped up a gear when it matters most.
The two-time defending champion has dropped four sets during his run to the last eight, giving his fans palpitations before raising his level each time.
The Spaniard produced his best tennis of the tournament so far against Russian 14th seed Andrey Rublev in the last 16, rallying from a set down to set up a quarter-final against Britain's Cameron Norrie.
Alcaraz is aiming to join an elite group of men who have won the tournament in three straight years in the Open era – Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The charismatic Spaniard has taken on Federer's mantle as the darling of Centre Court.
But he will have competition on Tuesday, when large sections of the crowd will be behind Britain's Norrie, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2022.
"He's going to use the crowd to his side," said Alcaraz, who has beaten Norrie four times in six meetings. "I have to be really strong mentally and focused to play good tennis if I want to beat him."
Aryna Sabalenka looks unstoppable as she chases a fourth Grand Slam title but a first Wimbledon crown.
The Belarusian top seed, who has never been past the semi-finals at the tournament, has yet to drop a set as she prepares to take on Germany's Laura Siegemund, ranked a lowly 104th in the world.
Sabalenka, who lost in the finals of the Australian Open and French Open, is the only remaining woman left out of the top six seeds.
She said she relished the support of the crowd during her last-16 win against Belgium's Elise Mertens, during which she won her 14th consecutive tie-break.
"We all dream the same, holding the trophy, that winning moment," said Sabalenka. "It's always been my dream. I mean, I haven't achieved it yet. I had a lot of disappointments here."
Siegemund, 37, who has lost both of her previous matches against her opponent, is under no illusions about the task facing her in her second Grand Slam quarter-final.
"She's one of the greatest players that we have and one of the most aggressive also. The only good thing about that match is that I have absolutely nothing to lose," she said.
Taylor Fritz came to Wimbledon with form on grass after winning titles in Stuttgart and Eastbourne but he had a gruelling start to his campaign at the All England Club.
The US fifth seed was taken to five sets in his opening two matches but he barely worked up a sweat in his last-16 match against Jordan Thompson, with the Australian forced to retire halfway through the second set.
His quarter-final opponent Karen Khachanov, ranked 20th, has won both of their previous two meetings, though they have not met since 2020.
"We practise all the time, so we're pretty familiar with each other's games," said Fritz. "But I think I have improved a ton and have become a much, much better player since the last time we played."
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had to overcome the distraction of a potentially costly glitch in the electronic line-calling system in her fourth-round match against Sonay Kartal, which became a major talking point at the championships.
The Russian, 34, is playing in her 65th Grand Slam – only Victoria Azarenka, in this year's women's draw, has more appearances (68).
She has a tough task against 13th seed and Queen's finalist Amanda Anisimova, with the American beating her on all three occasions they have met.